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Post by Ruko on Oct 4, 2009 22:46:50 GMT -5
Kalas couldn't see well in the light, especially as his vision continued to tremble as he coughed. "Onee-chan..." He forced out, in between his loud coughing. The words he spoke were hoarse and rough from his burning throat. "A-Asthma..." Maybe Onee-chan just thought he was coughing from the coal dust, but it was his asthma...
He trembled as a particularly strong cough racked his body, making his throat even more red and raw. Kalas knew that if he didn't stop soon, he'd start coughing up blood. Last time he had done that, it had not been pretty. "O-Onee-chan..." He forced himself to say with his scraped up throat, in between his coughs.
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Post by TearsOfNightfall on Oct 5, 2009 20:42:13 GMT -5
"Onee-chan... A-asthma..."
Alice bit her lip, quickly starting to panic. Asthma? It was asthma? She hardly knew anything about it - what were you supposed to do in situations like this? Was there medicine? Did he have any? If he did, where? And if not...then what?
She flinched as he gave an especially heavy cough. She needed to do something - she wanted to ask him what, but it was obvious that he was in no condition to talk.
"O-Onee-chan..." He repeated again, making her feel even more helpless. Did he not even realize that it was her? She wasn't his big sister...but now probably wasn't the time to point that out.
"U...umm..." She sputtered, still trying to decide what the best thing to do would be. "Hold on, I'll try to get you back outside." Would getting him out of the dusty tunnels help? Surely it wouldn't hurt... She put Tessa down, the cat meowing anxiously between them. She spared a quick glance around for Miss Jane, but she wasn't there, apparently she hadn't followed. She frowned - so she'd just left? It would've been a big help now...the older woman was bigger and stronger - she wasn't sure if she could lift Kalas by herself... She thought about going back and looking for someone else to help, but she figured they'd all left by now and didn't know where to look...
"Err..." She knelled down in front of him, with her back to him. "Can you grab on to my shoulders?" She asked, hoping that he could hear her over his coughing.
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Post by Ruko on Oct 7, 2009 19:41:42 GMT -5
Kalas's throat strained, breathing in more coal dust with every gasp of air he took after let loose a flurry of coughs. His body trembled, but he managed to hear her words. He had to get on Onee-chan's back? He could do that, he thought...
Gingerly, with his face faced away from her, so he wouldn't cough on her, Kalas crawled the short way to Onee-chan, and then wrapped his arms loosly around her neck, taking care to keep the coughs that wracked his body away from her. It was then that he registered the two things coming from her back on either side of him. His eyes widened, and he gasped out between coughs.
"W-Wings?" Coughs hacking his throat once more, he turned his head away, and then, as soon as his cough died slightly, he put voice to another word. "A-Alice?" Kalas coughed again, breathing in the harsh dust of the tunnels and trembling. All the while, he kept his arms wrapped loosely around the girl's, who he know knew was Alice and not Onee-chan, neck.
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Post by TearsOfNightfall on Oct 7, 2009 20:12:36 GMT -5
Alice nodded as he managed to mutter her name, hoping that he wouldn't be too disappointed - she was sure he'd rather have his sister...but there wasn't anything she could do to bring her here.
Bringing her strength to her legs, she tried to stand up out of her kneeling position, holding Kalas up in a sort of piggy-back form. He was pretty heavy, she realized as she got all the way up, quickly trying to debate on what to do. She wanted to fly, but she figured that would be impossible with his weight on her back, between her wings, she would have to walk. At least they were already in the main tunnel - the entrance wasn't all that far now.
Straining to keep him up, she started carefully making her way to the exit, moving as fast as she could without falling.
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Post by Ruko on Oct 9, 2009 18:49:17 GMT -5
As Alice stood up and began to move underneath him, Kalas clung tightly to her, without holding her throat too tight. He, using one hand, pulled up his shirt so that it was covering his mouth, so that he wouldn't cough onto Alice. Wrapping his arm back around her neck, loosely, he coughed deeply into his shirt.
His lungs burned. His throat burned. Kalas trembled. Why did his asthma have to act up? Since his medicine had run out ages ago, it was hard with his asthma, but he had gone awhile without it coming, so he had been careless. Of course Kalas shouldn't be in a coal mine! With all the dust and stuff, it was surprising that his asthma hadn't acted up till now!
And now Alice had to carry him all the way out of the tunnel. And he had thought she was Onee-chan. That was a double-whammy against her. Managing to find a break between his almost constant coughing, he let out one word. "S-Sorry..."
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Post by TearsOfNightfall on Oct 10, 2009 1:27:08 GMT -5
Alice turned her gaze back to look at Kalas as she kept plodding towards the exit. "You have nothing to be sorry for." She responded, putting a smile on her face. After all, he hadn't done anything wrong - it wasn't his fault that he'd suddenly had an asthma attack, and it was only natural that he'd want his sister in such a situation.
After another moment of walking, she suddenly emerged from the dank, dusty dimness of the tunnel and into the light outside of the mine. Even the world outside was no longer that bright, however - the sun was well on it's way down, giving the mining town a warm pinkish hue. The air outside was much cleaner, though, she realized as she took in a deep breath, she hoped it would help.
Carefully, she knelled back down again near the outer wall of one of the caves for him to get off, while Tessa followed and mewed anxiously by her feet.
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Post by Ruko on Oct 11, 2009 23:13:59 GMT -5
He hadn't done anything wrong? Kalas sure felt like he had. Maybe Alice was just being nice. But, whatever the reason, he was glad she said it. It made him feel a lot better.
As the dust got less thick, his coughing wasn't as strong, and the trembling of his body stopped. Seeing the sky outside, Kalas's eyes widened. It was this late already? It hadn't been nearly this late when he went inside the cave to look for the other men!
He took in several breaths of the clean air, his coughing becoming quieter, though it was still constant. Climbing gingerly off of Alice's back, he leaned against the wall, his coughing slowly dying. After a few minutes of semi-constant coughing, it finally stopped.
Rubbing his sore and hurting throat, Kalas turned to Alice. "T-Thanks." He blushed slightly embarrassed, though his face was probably so flushed from the coughing and gray from the coal, that you couldn't tell. He noticed that Alice's face was slightly grey as well.
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Post by TearsOfNightfall on Oct 12, 2009 2:33:46 GMT -5
Alice smiled in relief as Kalas' cough slowly started to die away. "Alice is just glad your okay. She wasn't sure what to do..."
At least she'd been there to help. If she hadn't, would anyone have gone to look for him at all? It didn't seem like it, but how could they not? How could Miss Jane have sent him back there and then just left when he didn't come back?
Miss Jane... She wasn't particularly fond of her after that, that was for sure, but thoughts of her offer drifted back into her head. She didn't like the boss, but would it really be wise to turn down her first opportunity for a home? If she did, though, Kalas would be alone again...and so would she - she wasn't sure if she particularly liked anyone from the mine crowd. She was silent for a moment, unsure of whether or not she should mention what Miss Jane had said to Kalas.
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Post by Ruko on Oct 14, 2009 22:10:41 GMT -5
Kalas smiled gratefully back at her, his red face slowly paling to its normal pallor underneath the gray coat of dust coating his skin. "J-Just getting m-me out o-of there w-was probably th-the b-best you could do." With all that coughing, he was surprised no one else had heard them. What about the miners that he was supposed to fetch? He didn't find them, and they should've been able to hear him. Where were they?
Frowning slightly, Kalas was about to tell Alice his observations, when he noticed that she was strangely silent. That was odd. "A-Alice, i-is something wr-wrong?" He inquired hesitantly, a tad bit of worry showing up on his face. From experience with his sister, he had found that when girls were silent they were either thinking hard or had bad news. Kalas wasn't sure which one it was this time.
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Post by TearsOfNightfall on Oct 15, 2009 1:11:23 GMT -5
"O...oh...umm..." She faltered for a moment, caught off guard at the sudden question. Had her doubt been showing on her face that much? She still hadn't decided whether or not she wanted to mention the offer yet. She gave him a brief looking over. His coughing seemed to have faded, but he still looked a bit dusty and tired from the ordeal. Maybe it would be better to find somewhere to stay and let him rest a bit, before she brought up her own problems - especially because her decision would greatly effect him, too.
"Err...it's...nothing... I just feel kind of worn out...maybe we should find somewhere to rest?" She answered, attempting to force a smile. She wasn't particularly good at lying, though. She didn't know whether he'd go for that or not. If he didn't, she decided that she'd have to tell, but if he left it at that, she'd explain at a better time.
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Post by Ruko on Oct 18, 2009 22:13:34 GMT -5
Kalas blinked slightly, surprised. If Alice didn't want to tell him something, she didn't have to lie to him about it. She could just say she didn't want him to know. Then again, to be fair, he hadn't told her about his asthma, either. "O-Okay." He stammered, taking his hand off the wall and steadying himself on his feet.
Taking a few steps out of the cave, he peered around, before looking back at Alice with a puzzled look. "H-Hey, w-where d-did e-everyone g-go? E-Even M-Miss J-Jane is g-gone..." Miss Jane, at least, should still be here. Weren't the boss people supposed to go home last, and after all their workers had left?
(>_> Suckish post, sorry)
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Post by TearsOfNightfall on Oct 20, 2009 1:18:43 GMT -5
"O-Okay."
Alice sighed internally in relief as Kalas dismissed her reply, and slowly started getting up. At least it seemed like she didn't have to bring up the decision for now, but at the same time, she could tell that he knew something was bothering her, even if he didn't say so.
"H-Hey, w-where d-did e-everyone g-go? E-Even M-Miss J-Jane is g-gone..."
Alice tensed again as Kalas' words knocked her out of her thoughts. She wasn't quite sure how to explain this, either... She frowned. "They all left. Even Miss Jane. Alice tried getting her to help find you when you didn't come back after she sent you, but she wouldn't!" She didn't hide the distaste in her voice. She'd considered not telling that fact - it definitely sounded bad - but it was, and he deserved to know that. Was it something about Kalas, or was Miss Jane always like that?
(No worries ^^)
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Post by Ruko on Oct 20, 2009 20:42:37 GMT -5
"R-Really?" Kalas blinked in surprise. Miss Jane just left him? Well, the other workers probably wouldn't know that he was in there. And Miss Jane didn't know about his asthma, so maybe she thought it'd be easier for Alice to find him. She didn't realize he'd need help, so it wasn't really her fault. She might have had something important to do...
Kalas frowned slightly, putting his thoughts to words. "M-Maybe sh-she needed t-to b-be s-somewhere. A-After a-all, she d-didn't know a-about m-my asthma, a-and sh-she w-wouldn't know th-that you'd n-need h-help c-carrying m-me." He paused for a moment, before continuing, shrugging. "M-Maybe sh-she j-just d-doesn't l-like m-me. I-I'm w-weak, and sh-she'd need s-stronger w-workers. L-Like y-you, A-Alice." He peered shyly at her, his face turning a faint pink underneath the gray soot.
He felt really awkward after he said that. Maybe it was just him, but he was slightly regretting he said it. Although... It was true. Alice was a +Anima worker, and Miss Jane had said they needed more +Anima.
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Post by TearsOfNightfall on Oct 21, 2009 2:32:54 GMT -5
Alice blinked before quickly turning back to him, surprised at his reaction.
It hadn't seemed to her like Miss Jane had been busy, it'd seemed more to her like she just hadn't cared. But he didn't seem angry at all. Kalas really was kind. But she couldn't help but think that maybe he was being perhaps a bit too much in this situation. It was unusual for Alice herself to feel angry, but this time she felt at the least distaste.
"But she was the one who sent you back there! She saw everyone else leave and even told me that she thought you might be lost! She..." Alice forcibly made her voice to trail off, realizing that it was rising too much. She was quiet for a moment, her gaze drooping slightly. "...And you shouldn't say things like that about yourself...she doesn't have any reason to dislike you. And even then she has no excuse to abandon one of her workers. And...I'm...not so strong." She was a +anima, and that was what seemed to make her valuable to Miss Jane, but in reality, she still had a hard time thinking of herself as anything more than a petty thief. Strong? It felt weird to hear someone say something like that.
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Post by Ruko on Oct 21, 2009 21:09:59 GMT -5
Kalas was surprised at Alice's strong response. He just didn't get mad at people, and went with the flow. If someone didn't like it, so be it. However, if someone was being unnessecary, that was why he carried the daggers. It was what he lived by...
He shrugged slightly. "S-some p-people a-are j-just l-like th-that. A-And y-you're s-strong, A-Alice. Y-You c-could p-push th-those c-carts w-while f-flying." His voice sounded strained on the word 'flying'. "I-I c-could n-never d-do th-that. I-I'm n-not g-good a-at athletic s-stuff. I-I'm b-better a-at s-stuff l-like c-cooking and s-sewing." His face turned pinker as he said those words. Normally, that was the woman's role, though with him and Xelha, the roles had always been reversed.
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